NOMAD

Table of Contents

• Description
• Web Pages
• Contact
• Version Warning
• How to Cite
• Compilation (Release)
• Compilation (Debug)
• Examples of Optimization
• Authors and License
• Contributing

Description

NOMAD is a C++ implementation of the Mesh Adaptive Direct Search (MADS) algorithm, designed for constrained optimization of black-box functions.

The algorithms implemented are based on the book "Derivative-Free and Blackbox Optimization", by Charles Audet and Warren Hare, Springer 2017. A second edition of the book has been released in 2026.

Web Pages

• https://www.gerad.ca/nomad/
• https://github.com/bbopt/nomad

Contact

• Polytechnique Montreal - GERAD
• C.P. 6079, Succ. Centre-ville, Montreal (Quebec) H3C 3A7 Canada
• e-mail: nomad@gerad.ca

Version Warning

This repository is for NOMAD 4. The previous version, NOMAD 3, is not on GitHub. NOMAD 3 will be deprecated in the future.

NOMAD 4 is similar in usage to NOMAD 3.

NOMAD 4 has a new software architecture, uses OpenMP to run evaluations in parallel, and also has some new functionalities.

How to Cite

Please cite NOMAD 4 with reference:

C. Audet, S. Le Digabel, V. Rochon Montplaisir, and C. Tribes. Algorithm 1027: NOMAD version 4: Nonlinear optimization with the MADS algorithm. ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software Volume 48, Issue 3, Article No.: 35, pp 1–22 https://doi.org/10.1145/3544489

Compilation (Release)

On Linux, Unix, Windows and Mac OS X, NOMAD can be compiled using CMake. The minimum version of CMake is 3.14. Older versions will trigger an error. A recent C++ compiler is also required.

Before starting the procedure, we recommend setting the environment variable $NOMAD_HOME with the path where NOMAD has been copied. For Linux and OSX,

export NOMAD_HOME=/home/myUserName/PathToNomad

For Windows, add an environment variable %NOMAD_HOME% containing the path. The remaining text uses the $NOMAD_HOME environment variable.

The procedure is the following. On the command line in the $NOMAD_HOME directory:

cmake -S . -B build/release

---> Create the CMake files and directories for building (-B) in build/release. The source (-S) CMakeLists.txt file is in the $NOMAD_HOME directory.

• To deactivate compilation with OpenMP:

  cmake -DTEST_OPENMP=OFF -S . -B build/release

• To enable C interface building:

  cmake -DBUILD_INTERFACE_C=ON -S . -B build/release

• To enable Matlab interface building:

  cmake -DBUILD_INTERFACE_MATLAB=ON  -DTEST_OPENMP=OFF -S . -B build/release

  • ! Before proceeding, have a look into $NOMAD_HOME/interfaces/Matlab_MEX/readme.txt

  • ! Extra flags might be required to prevent CMake errors.

  • ! Compiler version and Matlab version need to be compatible; Check https://www.mathworks.com/support/requirements/supported-compilers.html

  • ! The Matlab interface will not be built if OpenMP is enabled.

  • ! An extra addpath Matlab command must be done to have access to nomad Mex binaries:

    addpath(strcat(getenv('NOMAD_HOME'),'/build/release/bin'))

• To enable Python interface (PyNomad) building:

  cmake -DBUILD_INTERFACE_PYTHON=ON -S . -B build/release

  • ! Before proceeding, have a look into $NOMAD_HOME/interfaces/PyNomad/readme.txt

  • ! More details are provided in $NOMAD_HOME/interfaces/PyNomad/readme.txt

  • ! Building requires Cython. Cython can be obtained with Anaconda distribution platform.

  • ! On Windows, using Visual Studio, see the user guide or the README to properly manage x86/x64 building of binaries.

• To enable Java interface building (with Swig):

  cmake -DBUILD_INTERFACE_JAVA=ON -S . -B build/release

For Windows:

cmake --build build/release --config Release

For OSX and Linux:

cmake --build build/release

---> Build all the libraries and applications

• Option --parallel xx can be added for faster build.
• The option --config Release should be used on Windows multi-configuration build environment (VisualStudio) to build only Release configuration. The default configuration is Debug. The same option should be used for OSX when using a Xcode project.

For Windows:

cmake --install build/release --config Release

For OSX and Linux:

cmake --install build/release

---> Copy binaries and headers in build/release/[bin, include, lib] and in the examples/tests directories.

By default, the executable "nomad" will be installed into the directory: build/release/bin/ (build/debug/bin/ when in debug mode). A symbolic link is added in the bin directory (not functional for windows).

It is possible to build only a single application in its working directory (with NOMAD_HOME environment variable properly set):

cd $NOMAD_HOME/examples/basic/library/example1
cmake --build $NOMAD_HOME/build/release --target example1_lib.exe
cmake --install $NOMAD_HOME/build/release

Compilation (Debug)

The procedure to build the debug version is the following. On the command line in the $NOMAD_HOME directory:

cmake -S . -B build/debug -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug

---> On Windows, all 4 configurations are configured (Debug, RelWithDebugInfo, MinSizeRel, Release); flag CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE is ignored.

For Windows:

cmake --build build/debug --config Debug

For OSX and Linux:

cmake --build build/debug

---> Build the libraries and applications

• Option --parallel xx can be added for faster build.

For Windows:

cmake --install build/debug --config Debug

For OSX and Linux:

cmake --install build/debug

---> Copy binaries and headers in build/debug/[bin, include, lib] and in the examples/tests directories

Examples of Optimization

Batch Mode

There are examples in batch mode in $NOMAD_HOME/examples/basic/batch/. In each directory, the blackbox functions (usually named bb) are compiled by default. The problem may be resolved using NOMAD and the parameter file:

$NOMAD_HOME/build/release/bin/nomad param.txt

For convenience, the path to $NOMAD_HOME/build/release/bin directory can be added to the $PATH environment variable. For Windows, this is achieved by setting the parameters for environment variable %PATH% to %NOMAD_HOME\build\release\bin\

Library Mode

There are examples in library mode in $NOMAD_HOME/examples/basic/library/. In each directory, the executable may be compiled when building the NOMAD application. The problems may be resolved by execution, for instance:

./example_lib.exe

IMPORTANT: Library mode examples with Windows require to set the %PATH% environment variable (see above). Otherwise, the executables cannot find NOMAD dlls.

Authors and License

NOMAD - Version 4 has been created and developed by Viviane Rochon Montplaisir and Christophe Tribes (Polytechnique Montreal).

The copyright of NOMAD - version 4 is owned by Charles Audet, Sebastien Le Digabel, Viviane Rochon Montplaisir and Christophe Tribes (Polytechnique Montreal).

NOMAD 4 has been funded by Rio Tinto, Hydro-Québec, Huawei-Canada, NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada), InnovÉÉ (Innovation en Énergie Électrique) and IVADO (The Institute for Data Valorization).

NOMAD v3 was created and developed by Charles Audet, Sebastien Le Digabel, Christophe Tribes and Viviane Rochon Montplaisir, and was funded by AFOSR and Exxon Mobil.

NOMAD v1 and v2 were created and developed by Mark Abramson, Charles Audet, Gilles Couture, and John E. Dennis Jr., and were funded by AFOSR and Exxon Mobil.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. See the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.